Mexico seeks US criminal cases over migrant deaths linked to ICE
President Claudia Sheinbaum says Mexico will ask US prosecutors to act after 17 Mexican nationals died in immigration raids or custody.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
Mexico will ask prosecutors in the United States to seek criminal charges after Mexican citizens died during immigration raids or while held by US authorities, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday. The move raises pressure on Washington over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown after an ICE agent killed a Mexican man in Houston.
Sheinbaum said the requests are being submitted formally to US prosecutors, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. The announcement followed the July 7 death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican citizen shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent during a raid in Houston.
Al Jazeera and Reuters reported that Salgado was the 17th Mexican national to die in immigration raids or in the custody of US immigration authorities since Trump returned to office last year. Mexican officials have described some of the deaths as homicides.
Mexico turns to US prosecutors
Sheinbaum said at her daily news conference that Mexico did not want a confrontation with the United States, but she said the government could not stay quiet about the deaths of its citizens. She called for Mexican political parties and society to support Mexican nationals in the US.
“This is not just a matter for the Mexican government,” Sheinbaum said, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. “I call on all political parties, everyone, all of Mexican society, to show solidarity with our fellow citizens in the United States. I don’t think anyone approves of this situation.”
Sheinbaum also said Mexico had to speak out when its citizens’ rights were violated. “We must raise our voices when there are human rights violations against our fellow citizens,” she said.
Mexican Foreign Affairs Minister Roberto Velasco said Thursday that the government was preparing to request criminal complaints in US courts, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. Sheinbaum’s Monday comments confirmed that the requests were being lodged with prosecutors.
Relations already strained
The step is Mexico’s strongest response so far to deaths connected to Trump’s deportation campaign, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported. Mexican officials have sent protest letters to Washington, but those efforts have not produced results, according to the reports.
The complaints come during a difficult period in US-Mexico relations. Al Jazeera and Reuters reported that Trump has used tariffs to pressure Mexico’s economy, declined to renew the USMCA trade deal and authorized direct CIA intervention against drug cartels in Mexico.
Sheinbaum has tried to keep cooperation with Washington on migration and drug trafficking while defending Mexican sovereignty, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. That approach has coincided with an approval rating of about 68 percent at home, the outlets reported.
The Houston shooting remains the immediate trigger for the new legal push. Witnesses have disputed the Trump administration’s account of Salgado’s killing, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters, and the case has intensified demands in Mexico for a stronger response.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.